By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – Lafarge Africa, the Nigerian arm of world biggest cement firm, Lafarge said on Friday it has completed Mandatory Tender Offer (MTO) to minority shareholders of Ashaka Cement Plc; thereby owning 82.46 percent of the company.

Lafarge Africa said in a statement that it received and accepted 534,144,592 ordinary shares of AshakaCem tendered by 3,641 Shareholders. “This represents 23.85 percent of the company,” Lafarge added.

According to company, it has allotted 150,725,822 ordinary shares of its shares as consideration to the shareholders that accepted the offer.

“An additional cash consideration of N1, 068,289,184 has also been paid to the shareholders that accepted the offer,” the cement producer affirmed.

Under the terms of the tender offer, qualifying shareholders who accepted the offer were allotted 57 ordinary shares in Lafarge Africa for every 202 ordinary shares in AshakaCem tendered.

An additional cash payment of N2.00 (Two Naira) per every ordinary share of AshakaCem purchased by Lafarge Africa during the acceptance period was also made to accepting shareholders.

The acceptance period for the tender offer opened on December 10, 2014 and closed on January 23, 2015 following an extension of five (5) working days to the offer period.

“This is a significant step in the conclusion of the consolidation process of Lafarge Africa Plc. I would like to express my appreciation to the AshakaCem shareholders whose participation in the transaction (through the tender of their shares) has made this a very successful process,’’ Olusegun Osunkeye, chairman of Lafarge Africa said.

While Guillaume Roux the group managing director/CEO of Lafarge Africa said: “We are delighted to have received a great response from AshakaCem Plc shareholders and will continue to work towards maximising shareholder value.”